Tower Mogul Review by Sandmann

Background

Tower Mogul has truly arisen as a product of the fans. Developed by eSoft Interactive, one of the seminal Pocket PC developers, Tower Mogul began as an ambitious concept. Through company communication and fan participation, it has evolved into a staggering work of deft game-developing skills. Contrary to popular belief, a game without detailed 3D graphics can be fun, and Tower Mogul (along with Snails) is possibly the preeminent example of this.

Hot, fast-paced tower-designing action!

Graphics

The graphics in Tower Mogul are not exactly mind-blowing, but they are effective and immerse the user into the concept of the game. Many of the game’s units came from user submissions (a community nurtured on Pocketmatrix’s famous forums). Libraries, burger shops, and supermarkets are all distinguishable and clear. The Virts, or the famed artificial-intelligence mallrats, have a satisfying degree of detail while not clogging up the PPC’s processor. Once the gamer progresses farther into the game, the information on the screen can become sort of a sensory overload. This is, of course, intentional as part of the challenge comes from managing a dizzying array of information and response.

Wait, am I supposed to be raising the rent of my condominiums or building more service elevators?

Sound

The sound is just as playful as the graphics; MIDI beats bounce and frolic, accompanied by frequent beeps and squeaks. There are four options for the background music: twang, groove, chill, and loop all. All are quite satisfying for the Pocket PC genre. The volume is controllable, and can be dragged to “mute.” Menu clicks resound with a satisfying click, and periodical in-game sound effects keep the user immersed in the game.

Gameplay

Ahh, the bread and butter of every Pocket PC game review: gameplay. This is the crux of the evaluation, the make-or-break section, the part most heavily factored into the overall score of the game. We already know that Tower Mogul has great graphics and sound, but does it deliver in gameplay?

After playing the game for nearly one blurry-eyed hour, I began to wish there was a Vision Correction Center that I could place in my tower.

The above screenshot is the worth of one hour of continuous gameplay compounded with God knows how many other hours of experimenting. I don’t know what better endorsement I could provide for a game than my undivided attention for an hour. Hell, I can barely concentrate long enough to sign my own name, much less devote sixty minutes of my valuable time to making sure all of my hotels are in the green.

But, reviewer, quit the rambling and tell us what the game’s like!, you might ask. Ahem. This is my review; kindly take a seat. Anyway, the gameplay will unavoidably be compared with that of Sim Tower. And as most who have played Sim Tower would attest, this is hardly a bad thing. The object of the game is to manage a tower successfully by achieving a certain level of population and maintaining a profit to boot. The concepts for most successful games are startlingly simple, and Tower Mogul is no exception. Starting from this basic idea, eSoft Interactive skillfully added a myriad of possibilities in tower design. At a one-star rating (your tower can go all the way to five stars), you have the ability to build lobbies, floors, elevators, stairs, condominiums, hotels, a burger joint, offices, and more. The trick lies in successful proportion and placement of each, and one must not forget the challenges of transportation (elevators, escalators, etc.).

The progression through the game is logical, as each gain in rating brings more options with it. Eventually, the gamer will have security facilities, underground parking, taco joints, supermarkets, travel agencies and much, much more at his or her disposal.

There is essentially unlimited replay potential, as there are a variety of strategies one can utilize to graduate to the next level. Balance and foresight are the most valuable design traits, but more important for the gamer is patience.

If there is one downfall of Tower Mogul’s gameplay, it is the learning curve. I had to fail countless times and ask innumerable people for advice before I finally graduated to a two-star rating. A tutorial is provided at the beginning, and playing would be utterly impossible without it. The tutorial only goes so far, however, and the user is left in the dark with respect to certain areas of the game. This is, of course, nothing one cannot figure out with time, but it does take time. In this regard, I would recommend the possibility of more extensive documentation on hints-and-tips in future updates.

Conclusion

I cannot simplify it any more than this: if anything I have mentioned interests you, purchase Tower Mogul. It is a fantastic game, and after you get over the initial learning experience, you will be able to appreciate its diversity of gameplay, replayability, and other such invented video-game terms for months, perhaps even years or centuries, to come.

• Tower Mogul was reviewed with a Jornada 568
• I had no prior experience with Sim Tower
• My queries to eSoft Interactive were answered quickly and efficiently
• Tower Mogul has received frequent updates and was on version 1.1 when this review was written
• Tower Mogul is available for $11.95 from Handango or the eSoft website (URL: http://www.esoftinteractive.com/ppc-tm-buy.html)

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